easthampshire.org

Wednesday 22nd February 2012

Grayshott’s sports pavilion will receive a much-needed upgrade thanks to funding brough about by the Olympics.

Grayshott Parish Council has secured £23,900 of Olympic legacy funding from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities Fund.

The Inspired Facilities fund is part of the £135 million Places People Play legacy programme that is bringing the magic of a home Olympic and Paralympic Games into communities across the country. Every sports facility that receives funding will carry the London 2012 Inspire mark – celebrating the link to the Games.

The Grayshott project will carry out the refurbishment of the local pavilion currently used by the cricket and football clubs.  The pavilion has served these clubs well for nearly 60 years but is badly in need of an upgrade.

Sport England’s Chair, Richard Lewis, said: “This investment will create a fantastic sporting legacy for Grayshott.

“This fund has really hit the mark with sports clubs in East Hampshire. It shows we’re offering the legacy that people want for their local community. For hundreds of clubs and tens of thousands of people, 2012 will be the year their local sports facilities got better.”

The timing could not be better for Grayshott.  The cricket club celebrated its 115 year anniversary last season and the football club will be able to boast 100 years of football later this year.

Grayshott Parish Council’s Katie Weir said: “We are delighted to secure the first Inspired Facilities grant, which will enable us to upgrade the quality of our premises to match the quality of our coaches.  The enhanced facility will enable us to grow the number of players in both clubs which will be a fitting legacy of the 2012 Games.”

Local MP, Damian Hinds, said: “I am delighted that Grayshott is to benefit from the opportunities for British sport generated by the Olympics and Paralympics.  It is so welcome to see this kind of positive encouragement to develop sports facilities locally and I am confident the Inspired Facilities funding will enable the creation and enhancement of sporting facilities that really do inspire more local people to take part and excel in sport.”

The project is one of 350 local community sports groups who have been offered a total of £17.4 million in Olympic legacy funding through the Inspired Facilities Fund.

The investments will breathe new life into tired facilities that can be unattractive to sports participants, difficult to maintain and run. Grants have also been offered to convert existing buildings into venues that are suitable for grassroots sport and to allow local clubs to buy the facilities they use.

Minister for Sport and the Olympics, Hugh Robertson MP, said: “We want to use the Olympic and Paralympics this summer to inspire a generation to get involved in sport across the country. This is why as part of the £135 million Places People Play legacy programme we invited community sports clubs to apply for funding to upgrade their facilities.”

Inspired Facilities has been designed to be as simple and accessible as possible for potential applicants, with a shorter form and a catalogue of ready-made options to choose from. This is the first of five funding rounds of Inspired Facilities; the second round opened on 1 February 2012, offering hundreds more local groups the chance to bid for a further £10 million of funding.

Places People Play is being delivered by Sport England, working in partnership with the British Olympic Association (BOA) and the British Paralympic Association (BPA) with the backing of The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and the London 2012 Inspire mark.

LOCOG Chair, Seb Coe, said: “This is a fantastic funding project that will deliver a real legacy from the London 2012 Games. It will provide a whole range of sporting opportunities for young people through improved facilities and will I hope inspire them to take up sport.”

The announcement was welcomed by the Local Government Association. Cllr Chris White, Chair of its Culture, Tourism and Sport Board, said: “In spite of budget pressures, councils are striving to keep supporting local sports clubs and want to work with them in creating a lasting and meaningful Olympic and Paralympic legacy. This much-needed funding will hopefully act as a catalyst to further strengthen local partnerships between councils and sports clubs and get more people playing sport.”